1. Field of Invention
This invention is in the general field of casino gaming and, more particularly, is a method of simultaneously playing a plurality of card games in a casino.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Efforts to attract patrons to a casino include offering opportunities to play two of the most popular card games in the world. One of the card games is Poker; the other is Black Jack. More recently, the patrons have been offered an opportunity to play a card game called War.
Poker is the most frequently played card game in the United States. A player in a Poker game is permitted to wager against all other players in the Poker game that he holds a Poker hand that is superior to Poker hands respectively held by the other players.
An invariant feature of almost all Poker games is that a Poker hand is comprised of five cards. The value of the Poker hand is determined by its rank. The player with the highest ranking Poker hand is usually the winner. The rankings of Poker hands, in descending order, are given as:
ROYAL FLUSH, (Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 of the same suit);
STRAIGHT FLUSH, (five cards in sequence in any suit, i.e. Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, of the same suit);
FOUR OF A KIND, (four Aces is highest);
FULL HOUSE, (THREE OF A KIND plus a PAIR, i.e., 10, 10, 10, King King);
FLUSH (Five cards of the same suit);
STRAIGHT (five cards in sequence but of different suits, i.e., (Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7);
THREE OF A KIND (Three cards of the same rank, i.e., three Aces);
TWO PAIRS (i.e., two Kings and two 10's);
ONE PAIR (two 5's); and
NO PAIR.
When Poker hands of equal rank are compared, rankings of cards comprising the Poker hands determine the highest rank. Thus, for example, a Poker hand that comprised of a pair of 10's has a higher rank than a Poker hand that is comprised of a pair of 9's.
The casino usually tries to promote games of the type where the player makes wagers against the casino rather than against the other players. By having the player wager against the casino there is an increase in the casino's revenue. Accordingly, Poker is not a game that casino management regards as highly desirable.
Black Jack is a game where one or more players make wagers against the casino. Accordingly, Black Jack is a game that the casino management regards as highly desirable.
An essential feature of a Black Jack game is that values are assigned to the cards. An ace is valued at a count of either 1 or 11 at the discretion of a player who is dealt the ace. When the dealer is dealt the ace, it is valued at the count of either 1 or 11 in accordance with rules of the casino which are described hereinafter.
Kings queens and jacks (referred to as court cards) are valued at a count of 10. All other cards are valued at a count that equals their face value.
The Black Jack game begins with each player making a wager. After the wagers are made, the dealer deals one card, face up, to each of the players and to himself. The dealer next deals another card, face up, to each of the players and one card face down to himself.
When the dealer's face-up card is an ace, a ten or a court card, the dealer must look at his face-down card. When the dealer's two cards have a total count of 21 (known as a natural 21), it is announced to the players. A player holding a natural 21 is permitted to retrieve his Black Jack wager. All other players lose their Black Jack wagers.
When the dealer does not hold a natural 21, a player to the extreme left of the dealer plays first. When the first player holds a natural 21 he wins his Black Jack wager.
When the first player does not hold a natural 21, he may:
1. receive a dealt card face up when he wants to increase the count of his holding. The first player may choose to receive additional dealt cards until he is either satisfied with the count of his holding or the count of his holding exceeds 21 (known as a bust). When the first player's hand is not a bust, he has an active holding.
2. choose not to receive any additional cards because he is either satisfied with the count of his holding or believes that an additional card would cause his holding to be a bust.
When the first player's holding is a bust, he loses his Black Jack wager and his holding is inactive. All other players may either draw cards or not as described in connection with the first player.
After all of the players have either received additional cards or chosen not to receive additional cards, and there is at least one player with an active holding, the dealer turns up the face-down card. When the dealer's holding has a count of 16 or less, the dealer is required to deal himself an additional card and continue to deal himself additional cards until the dealer's final holding exceeds 16. When the dealer's final holding is a bust, the player with the active holding wins his Black Jack wager.
When the dealer's holding has a count that exceeds 16, the dealer may not receive an additional card. It should be understood that when the dealer's holding includes an ace that, when valued at a count of 11, causes the dealer's holding to exceed the count of 16, the dealer may not receive an additional card.
The player with the active holding wins his Black Jack wager when the active holding has a count that exceeds the count of the dealer's final holding. Correspondingly, the player with the active holding loses his Black Jack wager when the active holding has a count that is less than the count of the dealer's final holding. When the count of the active holding equals the count of the dealer's holding, there is what is known as a push, whereby the player with the active holding is permitted to retrieve his Black Jack wager.
When, for example, the first player's holding is initially comprised of two cards with the same count, the player is said to hold a pair. In what is known as splitting the pair, the first player may treat each of the two cards as a first dealt card in two separate holdings. In a similar manner, all other players may split pairs.
In what is referred to as going down for double, the first player, for example, after receiving the initial two card holding may choose to double his Black Jack wager and receive only one additional card. In a similar manner, all other players may go down for double.
In war, after a player makes a high card wager, the dealer and the player are each dealt a card. When the player's card has a higher rank than the dealer's card, the dealer wins the high card wager. Correspondingly, when the player's card does not have a higher rank than the dealer's card, the player loses the high card wager.
It should be appreciated that Poker, Black Jack and War have features that differ from each other that attract the casino patron. Accordingly, it is not unusual for the casino patron to go from a Poker game to a Black Jack game or from a Poker game to a game of War. Accordingly, there is a need for a game that combines features of Poker, Black Jack and war.